sadık yazar istanbul university [email protected] new testament translations on the ottoman period...

Sadk YAZAR Istanbul University [email protected] NEW TESTAMENT TRANSLATIONS on the OTTOMAN PERIOD (XIII-XIX CENTURY)

Introduction (1) Introduction (1) Introduction (2) Introduction (2) Translations of the Bible made by Turks (Except Ottoman Period) (1) Translations of the Bible made by Turks (Except Ottoman Period) (1) Translations of the Bible made by Turks (Except Ottoman Period) (2) Translations of the Bible made by Turks (Except Ottoman Period) (2) A Translation of the Mark Gospel into Tatar Dialect in the Suleymaniye Library A Translation of the Mark Gospel into Tatar Dialect in the Suleymaniye Library Translations of the Bible in Ottoman Period Translations of the Bible in Ottoman Period The First Translations of the Bible into Turkish in Arabic Script: The Translation of Hk andAl Ufk Bey The First Translations of the Bible into Turkish in Arabic Script: The Translation of Hk andAl Ufk Bey Al Ufk Bey and His Bible TranslationAl Ufk Bey and His Bible Translation (1) Al Ufk Bey and His Bible Translation Al Ufk Bey and His Bible Translation (2) Al Ufk Bey and His Bible Translation (2) A Translation With An Unknown Translator: The Turkish Linguistic Society Copy (TLS19) smail Ferruhs Translation (1) smail Ferruhs Translation (1) smail Ferruhs Translation (2) smail Ferruhs Translation (2) An Uncompleted Translation: The translation exists in Sleymaniye Library Donated Manuscripts no. 2518: An Uncompleted Translation: The translation exists in Sleymaniye Library Donated Manuscripts no. 2518:

Introduction (1) Studies devoted to the history of translation constitute one of the research subjects of translation studies, which is an independent branch of knowledge in the present day. With these studies, which deal with translation practices and theories, certain research types are taken into consideration such as country, region, linguistic or cultural association. (1) Translation studies of the Koran, the Old Testament and the New Testament take place in these research types too. I, in my paper, want to mention Bible translations on the Ottoman period, basing on a historical period (Ottoman period) and a specific text (the Bible). In this sense, I am going to try to present the manuscripts which contain a number of Bible translations that I could find during my research. While doing so, I am going to take these translations in hand bibliographically; therefore, there is going to be no detailed investigation in these translations in terms of linguistic and translation studies. I want to state that while making my research, although using online databases in which all the manuscripts in Turkey can be scanned, I based mostly on Istanbul libraries. (1)Judith Woodsworth, History of Translation, Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, (edited by Mona Baker), 2005, p. 102-03.

The Religious Distribution of the Turks Turkish World Animistic and Shamans

Introduction (2) As known; because of emigration, war, missionary activities and one of the characteristics of Turks, religious tolerance, Turks have accepted many religions and affected by them along history. In this context, aside from their traditional religion, Gk-Tengri, they have been affected by universal religions such as Buddhism, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. (1) Even though around the world, especially in the West, mentioning Turkishness brings Islam to minds; Turks have been affected by other universal religions. One of these, Christianity (2), is the second common religion after Islam according to the researchers of this subject. Although, according to some researchers the history of Turks meeting Christianity goes to 2nd century A.D., it is understood that Christianity began spreading out in Central Asia in the end of V. century. Even though Christianity (Nestorianism sect) that spreading among Turks in Central Asia failed against Islam, Orthodoxy and partly a number of other Christian sects could managed to diffuse and moreover to form permanent communities among Turks living in East Europe, the Balkans, Anatolia, Russia and Siberia. (1)About the religious history of Turks, see: nver Gnay; Harun Gngr, Trklerin Dini Tarihi, stanbul 1997, Ocak Yaynlar; Hikmet Tanyu, Trklerin Dini Tarihesi, stanbul 1978, Trk Kltr Yayn; Fuat Bozkurt, Trklerin Dini, stanbul 1995, Cem Yaynevi. (2) For Christian Turks see: Mehmet Erz, Hristiyanla an Trkler, Ankara 1983, Trk Kltrn Ara trma Enstits; Yakup Aygil, Hristiyan Trklerin Ksa Tarihi, stanbul 1995, Ant Yaynlar; Gnay-Gngr, age., 140-161; Mithat Aydn, Anadoluda Hristiyan Trkler (Ba langcndan Cumhuriyete), Sleyman Demirel niversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakltesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, say: 11 (2004), s. 1-28; Yonca Anzerlio lu, Gemi ten Gnmze Trk Dnyasnda Hristiyan Trkler, Karadeniz Ara trmalar, say: 2 (Yaz 2004), s. 73-91.

Translations of the Bible made by Turks (Except Ottoman Period) (1) After having embraced Christianity, Turks, who generally compose a literature under the influence of the religion which they are affiliated with, also composed a literature around this religion. According to the researches, the oldest translation of the Bible is made on Uyghur period, and the surviving two papers have been pressed in Turpan texts. (1) After this translation, which was thought to be the Jacobous or Mathew Gospel, we observe that Turk societies who immigrated to Central Europe and embraced Christianity have practiced Bible translations. With Bulgarian Turks accepting Christianity, the Bible was translated into Bulgarian Slavic for the first time. (2) Cuman- Kipchaks embraced Christianity as a whole, while their hegemony was coming to an end. Accordingly, Roman Catholic missionaries translated the Bible and its spiritual tunes into Turkish. (3) (1)Semih Tezcan, En Eski Trk Dili ve Yazn, Bilim, Kltr ve E itim Dili Olarak Trke, Ankara 1978, TTK Yaynlar, s. 290-301 (2)Gnay-Gngr, age., s. 149. (3)Ahmet Gkbal, Kpak Trkleri, stanbul 2000, tken Yaynlar.

Translations of the Bible made by Turks (Except Ottoman Period) (2) Gagauz people, who are the sequels of the Christian Turks in Central Asia, also translated the Bible into their language. Mihail Ciachir undertook this job in 1934. (1) After living in Anatolia through centuries, Christian Karaman (Larende) Turks, who was sent to Greece due to the Treaty of Lausenne in 1923, translated the Bible into Turkish with Greek letters. (2) The Bibles translation into modern Uyghur was made by Johannes Avetaranian, who converted from Islam to Christianity, and in 1989, only the Four Gospels chapter was pressed by British and Foreign Bible Society. This was followed by the Cairo press of Lars Erik Hogberg and G. Sauerwein in 1939. After Swedish population was driven from Xinjiang, Gustaf Ahlbert, Oskar Hermannson, Dr. Nur Luke (a Uyghur), Moulvi Munshi and Moulvi Fazil completed the translation of the Bible and this was pressed by British and Foreign Bible Society in Cairo, in 1950. (2) The translations of the Bible into Central Asian Turkish dialects such as Uzbek, Azerbaijani and Tatar were started by the support of Institute for Bible Translation, the Russian Bible Society, British and Foreign Bible Society, by the end of the 19th century and at the present such studies still continue (3) (1)Gnay-Gngr, age., s. 155. (2)See: Severien Salavielle Eugine Dallegio, Karamanlidika, Bibliographie Analytique Dourrages en Langue Turque Imprimes en Caracteres Grecs (1584-1900); Evangelia Balta, Karamanlidika: Additions (1584-1900) Bibliographie Analytique, Athen 1987. (3)see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations_by_language#Uyghurhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations_by_language#Uyghur (4)see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations_by_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations_by_language

A Translation of the Mark Gospel into Tatar Dialect in the Suleymaniye Library Now I would like to mention about a translation in Tatar language which exists in Suleymaniye Library now, (Arslan Kaynardag collection number 246). This manuscript translation is in Arabic script and was written in 1925. It consists of 50 folios and there is only Gospel of Mark translation in it. There is a map entitled Filistin yirinn haritas (the map of the Palestine region) at the top of the translation. And the translator is remained to be unknown.

Translations of the Bible in Ottoman Period (1) Looking at the Ottoman period, we see that two different literatures developed around the Bible. While one of these formed around Islamic creed, the other one formed around the translations of the whole Holy Scripture or some parts of it. According to Islamic creed, while the Bible with the Torah, which constitutes initial five chapters of the Holy Scripture, in fact was sent by the God as a holy text, it was altered later on. It is believed that there has been a lot change in these texts, initially the subject of Muhammads coming as a prophet. Hence, an Islamic literature was developed about this issue. Scholars such as Cahz (. 869), bn Hazm (. 1064), Gazzl (. 1111), Ebl-bek Slib b. Hseyin el-Cafer (.1221), Cveyn (. 1283), ehbeddn el-Karf (. 1285), Abdsselm b. Teymiyye el-Harrn (. 1327- 28), bn Kayyim (. 1350), Abdullh et-Tercmn (. 1432?), emdddn Muhammed b. Abdurrahmn es-Sehav (1496), eyh Ebl-fazl es-Sud (. after 1535-36), Rahmetullh el-Hind (. 1888), Muhammed Eb Zehre (. 1974) (1) have directly or indirectly mentioned the basic subjects like tampering of the Bible and the Torah and heralding Mohammed in the original version (vrjn) of these texts. (1) For the writings of these people about the subject, see: Ke fz-znn ve Harman, agm., s. 276.

Translations of the Bible in Ottoman Period (2) This Islam based literature continued in Ottoman period and other books with the same theme was written by Muslim-Turk scholars of the Ottoman period such as Abdurrahmn Becizde, Hcegizde Mustafa b. Muhammed (. 1589), brahim Mteferrika (. 1747) and Abdlahad Dvd (1930) (1). Along with this Islam based literature, we come across with another literature which is consisted of the translations of the whole Holy Scripture or some parts of of it like Four Bibles and the Psalter (soltar). It is possible to see examples (manuscripts) of this literature in libraries both in and out of Turkey. We put emphasis on the translations of this literatures New Testament chapter, in other words, on the translations of the New Testament in Ottoman period. (1) Harman, agm., s. 276.

Translations of the Bible in Ottoman Period (3) There is some information about translations of the Bible in Ottoman period which is considered as rumor (1). It is stated that the oldest translation we currently have, belongs to an English orientalist William Seaman (1606-1680). Seaman, who was in Istanbul between 1628-1639 first had translated and pressed the the Letters of John part of the New Testament. And after that, in 1666, he translated whole of the New Testament and pressed in Oxford. (1)For instance, it is said by Jean Deny that a philologic comitee which was under Protestant missonary Primus Truber, translated Holy Scripture into Croatian and Turkish in the late 16th century. (2)Cem Behar, Ali Ufk ve Mezmurlar, stanbul 1990, Pan Yaynclk, s. 26. For the mentioned press see: William Seaman, Domini nostri Iesu Christi Testamentum Novum. Turcice Redditum, Oxford 1666

The First Translations of the Bible into Turkish in Arabic Script: The Translation of Hk andAl Ufk Bey The first Turkish translation of the Bible in Arabic script is first made by Yahy b. shak pen named Hk and then by Ali Ufk Bey (1610-1675?) as a content of a project. The project of translating the Holy Scripture into Turkish, was started by a Czech, Jan Amos Komensky, also known as Comenius (1592- 1670). Everything, including the financial support needed for press was planned for this project. The most important part of this project, the translating job was asked from Levinus Warner (1619-1665), who had been in Istanbul many times on behalf of Holland. However, Warner was too busy to undertake the job and he asked Hk pan named Yahy b. shak and then Al Ufk Bey to do it. (1) Hk, who is thought to be a Jewish, completed his translation in 1659. However, for an unknown reason, Warner did not like the translation. (2) Then, Al Ufk Bey was asked to make a new translation. (3) (1) Behar, age., s. 28-29 (2) For the translation of Hk see. Hannah Neudecker, The Turkish Bible Translation by Yahya bin shak also called Haki (1659), Leiden 1994. (3) Behar, age., s. 29.

Al Ufk Bey and His Bible Translation (1) Polish Ali Ufk Beys first name was Wojciech Bobowski. Al Ufk is thought to born in 1610. According to a common opinion, he was brought to Istanbul as a captive and was taken to the court as a slave. He served 19 years in the court and in a date between 1652 and 1662 he left. After leaving, he turned back to the court as a dragoman of the Ottoman Court (Dvn- Hmyn). As the general opinion of western sources, he died in 1675. (1) While staying in Istanbul, Al Ufk Bey wrote close to 10 books about music, religion and Turkish language. Each of these has different importance and specifically his Mecma-i Sz u Sz entitled work which means a lot for history of Turkish music and his Holy Scripture translation are really important. (2) Upon being ordered for the translation of the Holy Scripture, Al Ufk first works on Hks translation and took his notes and then started to his own translation. He completed it in 1664. It was sent to Leiden with Hks translation. After examining, Ali Ufk Beys translation was decided to press. However, by the passing away of the sponsor for pressing the translation, Laurens de Geer, it had to be postponed. (1) Behar, age, s. 9-43. see Cem Behars mentioned book for the Western sources about Ali Ufk Beys life. (2) For Al Ufk Beys works and classification see. Behar, age. s. 32-41; Funda Toprak, XVII. Yzyla Ait Bir ncil Tercmesi ( nceleme-Metin-Szlk), Ankara 2006, s. 27-31.

Al Ufk Bey and His Bible Translation (2) The complete press of the translation came true 150 years after the owner of projects death, in 1827. Before that date, in 1739, first four chapters of the Genesis and in 1819, the New Testament chapter was pressed. The translation, whole of which was pressed in Latin script in Paris in 1827 was also pressed in Greek, Armenian and Arabic scripts in different periods. It was first pressed in Istanbul in 1870. Al Ufk Beys Holy Scripture translation was also pressed in modern Turkish with Latin script in 1941. (1) Both Hks and Al Ufk Beys manuscript copies of their Holy Scripture translations are now in Holland, in Leiden Academic library. Hks translation, partly published after an extensive examining by Hannah Neudecker. (2)The Four Gospels, which was a part of Al Ufks translation, has been transcribed with Latin script(3)by Funda Toprak (4) (1)See: Hannah Neudecker, The Turkish Bible Translation by Yahya bin shak also called Haki (1659), Leiden 1994 (2)Behar, age., s. 28-32. (3)(2) The manuscripts of Hks Holy Scripture translation are kept today in 4 piece with Cod. Or. 386, Cod. Or. 391a-d code numbers in the Warner collection of Leiden Universitys Library. Definition of the manuscripts has been made by Hannah Neudecker. See. (s. 383-398). They are also in a catalog prepared by Jan Schmidt. See. Jan Schmidt, Catalogue of Turkish Manuscripts in the Library of Leiden University and Other Collections in the Netherlands, Volume One, Leiden 2000, s. 93-97. (4)Toprak, age.

A Translation With An Unknown Translator: The Turkish Linguistic Society Copy (TLS19) One of the Turkish Bible translations with Arabic script we currently have is registered to the Turkish Linguistic Society Library, in the Manuscript Works section with the number Yz. A 19. It consists of 259 folios and there is not the slightest clue about when or by whom it has been made. On the first page of the manuscript, there are some information given about the New Testament chapter of the Holy Scripture. This information is followed by the Four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles chapter. However Acts of the Apostles chapter is not complete there are only 3 chapters. Other chapters of the New Testament do not take part in the manuscript. There are Gospel of Matthew between 2a-73b; Gospel of Mark between 73b-118b; Gospel of Luke between 118b-197a; Gospel of John between 197a-253b and 3 chapters of Acts of the Apostles between the folios 253b-259b in the manuscript. This Turkish version of the Bible has been Latinized by brahim Ethem zkan as a dissertation study. (1) Although there is a facsimile edition of this translation it is understood that it has not been analysed in terms of language and translation features. Nevertheless, in the way of the translating method and the language used, it has interesting features. In this translation; when we pay attention to the words translated from the written source (it couldnt have been determined which version it is); we can see that they are more archaic and different translations from the ones we could determine. (1) brahim Ethem zkan, Tdk Yz.A-19 Numarada Kaytl Trke ncil Tercmesi (Transkripsiyon- nceleme-Dizin), Kayseri, Erciyesi niversitesi, Sosyal bilimler Enstits, (Unpublished dissertation), 2006.

smail Ferruhs Translation (1) Another translation of the Bible was made by someone called smail Ferruh in 19th century which meets the last period of Ottoman. This translation exists in Byezd State Library in Istanbul (the Byezd collection no. 51) and includes only the translation of the Four Gospels. Just by looking both at the top (1a) and the bottom (page 269) of the manuscript, it can be understood that it belongs to smail Ferruh. The first inscription (at the top of the manuscript) which is not known whether it is inscribed by the translator or by someone else is: Mevkib shibi sml Ferruh Efendi hatt ve tercmesidir Copied and translated by smail Ferrh Efendi who is the author of Mevkib Another inscription found at the bottom of the translation that is clear to be written by its translator is: tahrrh ve tercemeth anil-Arab bi-kalemi Ferruh sene 1236 (Written by Ferruh translating from Arabic) As we find out the identity of the translator from these two inscriptions, we also understand that the translation is made from Arabic and in 1820-21.

smail Ferruhs Translation (2) Looking at biographic written sources, we understand that smail Ferruh is a Crimean, that he translated Viz-i K ifis Koran exegesis into Turkish and that he passed away in stanbul in 1256/1840-41. Even though it is mentioned in the sources (1), Ferruh who is known by exegesis translation namely Mevkib, also poetically translated the seventh volume of Mevlanas Mesnev which is debated to exist, there is no refer to his Four Gospels translation we are trying to present here. His translation consists of 269 pages which each one contain 21 lines. There stands Matthew Gospel between 1-75, Mark Gospel between 77-123, Lke Gospel 125-204 and John Gospel 205-269 translations. In his translation, in the beginning of each Gospel; Arabic, Frankish, Greek and Armenian pronunciation of the authors name is given. For instance, in the beginning of John Gospel, it says [This Gospel] authored by someone whose name is pronounced as Yuhann in Arabic, Jan and Covanni in Frankish; Yani in Greek, Uhanes in Armenian. smail Ferruhs and Al Ufk Beys translations resemble each other on the whole. Moreover, it is possible to see the same sentences. General outlook of the translation suggest that smail Ferruh could have seen Al Ufk Beys translation and inspired. (1) Bursal Mehmed Tahir, Osmanl Mellifleri, (hazrlayanlar: Mustafa Tat-Cemal Kurnaz), Ankara 200, Bizim Bro Yaynlar, C. I, s. 394-95.

An Incompleted Translation: The translation exists in Sleymaniye Library Donated Manuscripts no. 2518: At the top of this manuscript translation, there stands this inscription: Ulem-y Nasrniyyece Hz. s Efendimiz semvta sud buyurduklarndan (ktktan) otuz sene sonra Hz. Markos tarafndan yazlm ncil-i erfin tercmesidir. Bu kitbdan m run ileyh (ad geen) ncil-i erifin sekiz bb mefkd oldu ndan tercme dokuzuncu bbn yirmi be inci adedinden bed ider. (ba lar) (According to Christian scholars; this is the translation which was written by Mark, 30 years after Jesus ascended to heaven. As its nine chapters are lost, this gospel starts from the twenty fifth verse of the ninth chapter.) As it is understood from this inscription; this translation is the one which was made from the beginning of 25th verse of Gospel of Marks 9th chapter. There is no information about who and when this translation of 12 folios was made and which written source was used while doing it. The translation discontinued in the depth of 28th verse of 13th chapter. It is thought that the translator could not finish his translation or the other parts of the translation might be lost.

A Work Contain Translation of Some Bible Verses (1) Except for the Bible translations which we presented above, I also would like to mention another work which was not a direct translation of the Bible and which was written in order to justify the fact that Mohammed was heralded in the Torah and the Bible. It was written by a Hungarian who became later a Muslim. Though it is not a direct translation from the Bible, it should not be ignored as it involves translations of the Bible and the Torah verses. In Sleymaniye Library, I could reach three copies of this translation, the name and the writers name of these copies are not known unfortunately. It is registered as Tercme-i Baz- yt- Zebr ve Tevrt ve ncl, (The translation of some verses of Psalter, Torah and New Testament) Tercme-i Baz- yt- ncl (The translation of some verses of New Testament) and Tercme-i ncl (The translation of New Testament) in the library.

A Work Contain Translation of Some Bible Verses (2) The author, while not mentioning his name, gives some hints about his life. He was born in Kolojvar in Hungary. Reading the Torah, the Bible and the Psalter with their interpretations since his childhood, he was authorized to preach. One day he sees a verse, which was forbidden to read for being null by his teachers. He sees Muhammed was heralded in it. And thus he accepts Islam. With his acceptance, he decides to inscribe some of the verses of the Torah and the Bible written in Greek which indicated that Mohammed will come as a prophet at the end of the world and that Ottoman Empire will pervade everywhere from East to the West and translate them into Turkish. The actual purpose of the author is to translate several Torah verses which heralded Mohammed into Turkish by transcribing them with Arabic script. But he also says that he will consider a few verses which clearly indicate Mohammed in the New Testament before.

A Work Contain Translation of Some Bible Verses (3) None of the three copies we could reach has a copyright date. But, from the information provided in the introduction of the work, we understand that author presented his work to Sultn Ahmed b. sultn Mehmed In Ottoman history, there are only two sultans who had this identity. One is I. Ahmed who ruled between 1603 and 1617, and the other is 3th Ahmed who ruled between 1703 and 1730. Both their fathers name is Mehmed. So we can not understand which Sultan Ahmed the work was presented to. There are 14 texts which were translated into Turkish after writing the Greek text in Arabic script. Also there are several stories which are translated into Turkish without their Greek texts. Being brief, I want to finish this manuscripts interpret after telling the most important three elements of it. The fact that Mohammed was heralded in the Torah and the Bible was taken in hand by someone who became a Muslim later on and who claims that he knows the Torah and the Bible very well. Transcribing a Greek text with Arabic script which constitutes a new material for the researchers of aljamiado literature. Translation of the chapters in the Holy Scripture which is the most important fact for us.

A Work Contain Translation of Some Bible Verses (4) A similar work with the manuscript above is also present between the 57b-60a folios of a corpus in Sleymaniye Library Ali Nihat Tarlan collection no. 144. The reproducing date of this short work whose author we can not determine is 1205 / 1790-91. By the information given in the beginning of his manuscript, it is understood that he was Athenian who embraced Islam. This unknown author, who was cognizant of the Latin and Greek versions of the Holy Scripture, translated the verses which indicated prophethood of Mohammed, into Turkish after transcribing them in Arabic alphabet with scrutinizing the Psalter and the Bible. It is clear that this manuscript is important in terms of the facts I listed above.

Manuscripts of the Bible Translation into Turkish Outside Turkey These are the manuscripts which contain Turkish Bible translations which I saw in person or know with the help of another research that they exist in consequence of my research. However, after researching, I saw that there are a number of Turkish Bible translations outside Turkey. For instance, the Turkish Bible translation which is told to be in Marciena Library in Italy, Orientali No:108 by Mesh b. brhim; the translation in French National Library Turkish Manuscripts, Regius collection, copied in 1680 and in same library Saint-Germain-des-Pres no 512 bis. are one of the translations which I saw but could not check. Also there is one Turkish translation in Australia Dukedom Library Gotha Collection Turkish Manuscript aus arab. 1039=Seetzen Haleb no 130.

General Information of the Translations at Hand 1. Written sources: After analyzing Hks translation, Hannah Neudecker thinks that Hebrew Bible version might have inspired him. Coming up with many evidences with this issue, Neudecker still utters that judging is too difficult. (1) Also, there is not any certain information about the text which was the source of the TLS 19 version and Al Ufk Beys translation. Arabic translation of the Bible was the source of smail Ferruhs translation. But there is no information given about whom this Arabic version belonged to. (1) Neudecker, age., s. 275-308 Table I: The Source Texts of the Turkish Bible Translations VersionsHkAli UfkiTDK 19smail FerruhYB 2518 The source textHebrew text?unknown Arabic textunknown

General Information of the Translations at Hand 1. Marking System: In all the Turkish Bible translations we presented, chapter and verse orders are someway explained. While numbering scheme was used in Haki, Ali Ufki and YB 2518 versions, in TLS 19 and Ferruh versions, big dots were put at the end of the verses.

General Information of the Translations at Hand 1. Language and Translation: When we analyse the Bible translations on hand in terms of language and translation; (if we exclude the incomplete YB 2518) we will have two groups in doubles. As a result of our analysis on the information Neudecker gave and the text (Samuel I, II) she published, we see that Hakis translation and TLS 19 resemble each other. Besides, while the translations of Ali Ufki and smail Ferruh generally resemble in terms of language and translation, they significantly differentiate from those in the first group. Hk TDK 19Al Ufk smail Ferruh - Language is plainer, the equivalent words for the source text consist of more Turkish based words than second group. - The loyalty of sentence structure of source texts was in the foreground. - As a translation method; it relies on translating the words more than the meaning. - Language is more complicated, the equivalent words are more Arabic and Persian based. - On the whole, the loyalty of Turkish sentence structure was in the foreground. - Translating the meaning into Turkish is more important than word by word translation.

General Information of the Translations at Hand 1. Language and Translation: Turkish Bible translations generate two group in this way, on account of their language and translation characteristics; however, there are some important differences between the translations of Ali Ufki and smail Ferruh. First of all, smail Ferruh used more Arabic and Persian words in order to be equivalents for the written source. He used longer sentences than Ali Ufki Bey did and also it is possible to see the trace of an Islamic ambience around smail Ferruh.

Conclusion and Some Wishes Till recent epoch; it was believed in Ottoman period that the translation of the New Testament chapter of the Holy Scripture was only translated by Ali Ufki Bey. This effort clearly showed the inaccuracy of this idea which had been used in many scientific and popular studies. After our research which is made mostly based on Istanbul libraries; with a copy whose date of being written is not known, it is determined that there are five different Bible translations two of which are from 17th century, and the other two are from 19th century. While two of them constitute a part of the translation of the Holy Scripture, smail Ferruhs translation and TLS copy are made up of only the translation of the Four Gospels. As for YB 2518 copy, it is just an incomplete translation which contains a part of Mark Gospel. According to the documents on hand, the first translation of the New Testament on Ottoman period was made by a westerner orientalist, William Seaman, in Latin. The first translations in Arabic (Haki and Ali Ufkis translations) were also made with the support of Westerners. However, when language characteristics are taken into consideration, the possibility that TLS copy had been written earlier should not be ignored. Except the translations of Haki and Ali Ufki Bey, which came out as part of a project, we have no information about the reason(s) why the other three Bible translations and especially smail Ferruhs translation was made.

Conclusion and Some Wishes This research whose results I have been presenting you, constitutes only a tiny part of the research that should be done about Turkish Bible translations. Before ending my speech, I would like to make a few wishes. (1)First of all, by searching all of the manuscript libraries in the world, a strong bibliography of Turkish Bible translations made in Ottoman period should be prepared. (2)The translated texts should be properly Latinized and presented to the researchers. (3)These texts should be analyzed in terms of language and the translation studies. (4)While translating The Holy Scripture or just the New Testament chapter into modern Turkish or updating the previously made translations, the subject translations should be benefited from.

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